Pasay councilor shot dead in mall

Pasay City Councilor Borbie Rivera, 39, was shot at around 2100H of 06 August 2017 by assailants on a motorcycle outside the SM Southmall in Las Piñas. Rivera was rushed to the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, director of the Southern Police District, said the shooting was “not a robbery-holdup or an act of terrorism but purely a crime of murder.” Apolinario has ordered Las Piñas police and SPD to conduct a joint operation to identify the suspects in the killing of Rivera. There were no other casualties during the incident.

Back in April 2015, he was arrested for his alleged involvement in a drive-by shooting in Makati in January of that year—an incident that left one person dead and nine others wounded. Rivera had been tagged as a most wanted target by the Southern Police District leading up to his arrest. Several high-powered firearms were recovered during his arrest.

According to a Philippine National Police intelligence report uncovered by the media at the time, Rivera was involved in illegal gambling, contract killing, and drug trafficking—and was a known ally of several politicians. Rivera had been acquitted of his 2015 arrest.

Rivera was a barangay chairman who concurrently held the councilorship position, by virtue of his service as president of the Liga ng mga Barangay of the City.

Rivera had previously survived an ambush last 23 June 2017. He was emerging from a bar in Muntinlupa City at 0400H when assailants on a motorcycle shot at his vehicle. Rivera’s security detail fired back. Rivera was rushed to the hospital, where he recuperated.